Twinless

“Twinless has terrific queer representation but leaves women little room to shine.”

Title: Twinless (2025)
Director: James Sweeney 👨🏻🇺🇸🌈
Writer: James Sweeney 👨🏻🇺🇸🌈

Reviewed by Gavin 👨🏼🇬🇧🌈♿

—MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 4/5

James Sweeney’s sophomore feature, Twinless, became a hot topic after its premiere at Sundance Film Festival. The comedy drama took home a jury and audience award, but its popularity is mostly thanks to a steamy scene being leaked online. A shame in any case, but particularly since the film itself is worth savouring in full.

Twinless follows Roman (Dylan O’Brien) and Dennis (Sweeney), two men who meet at a support group for twins dealing with the death of their sibling. They’re very different people: Roman is endearingly simple-minded and often lets anger get the better of him, whilst Dennis is shy but chatty around certain people. There’s not much else I can delve into plot-wise, as Twinless has a big twist early on, but this darkly comedic film thoughtfully explores grief, connection, and the queer experience.

Sweeney showcases his talents as a writer, director, and performer. Dialogue crackles with wit and the narrative forces the characters into hilariously uncomfortable situations that generate nervous laughs. There are fun sequences where Sweeney flexes his creative muscles, such as a split-screen scene that joins up again in a heart-wrenching way—a technique he first employed in his feature debut, Straight Up (2019), but one that he hones to better effect here. And Sweeney’s performance perfectly straddles the line between empathetic and believable. Dennis makes some questionable decisions, but you can clearly see why. Whether it’s on screen as Dennis, or behind the camera as a writer-director, Sweeney is a storyteller to keep an eye on.

Gender: 3/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

With two men in the lead for a project written and directed by a man, it’s perhaps unsurprising that women aren’t a focus. Unfortunately, the ones who do appear suffer the familiar role of solely existing to provide either conflict or encouragement for the male leads. Marcy (Aisling Franciosi), the receptionist at Dennis’ office, enters into a relationship with Roman and causes a divide between the men. Lauren Graham has a few short scenes as Roman’s mother, who has no character outside of grieving for her dead son and shouting at Roman. A single conversation does take place between the mother and Marcy, but of course, they’re talking about Roman and his brother Rocky (also played by O’Brien).

Whilst their roles are designed to support the men around them, Marcy stands out in her own right. Introduced as a chatty colleague without much depth—damningly, she loves the Olive Garden—she eventually reveals emotional intelligence and a captivating zest for life. Marcy goes toe-to-toe with Roman and Dennis thanks to Franciosi’s wonderful performance that imbues her character with charm, wit, and a disarming intellect.

Race: 3.5/5

Leading Twinless on multiple fronts is Sweeney, who is Asian American. Dennis shares the same heritage as his performer, but this isn’t a film that specifically highlights the lived experience of being Asian. Aside from Sweeney/Dennis, Twinless is a rather white film. Arkira Chantaratananond, who is also Asian American, is barely in the film as a member of the grief support group, and other actors of colour are relegated to background roles. For a film set in modern-day Portland, where almost one-third of the population are people of colour, it’s a shame that the cast doesn’t better reflect society in any meaningful way.

Bonus for LGBTQ: +1.00

On the surface, Twinless is a story about grief and friendship, but it’s also an LGBTQ story. Created by a gay filmmaker like Sweeney, the movie makes way for authentic queer representation. Dennis is messy but relatable, especially to those from the queer community who understand how hard it is to find and maintain a partner in a heteronormative world. Themes of loneliness are recontextualised as queer longing. In a pivotal sex scene, Dennis has a passionate one-night stand that is at once funny, heart-warming, and, yes, steamy as hell. Twinless succeeds as a piece of queer cinema with Dennis, Rocky, and other LGBTQ characters portrayed as complicatedly human.

Mediaversity Grade: B 3.83/5

Twinless is an effective comedy drama from an exciting new talent. Sweeney injects his own personality and background into the film, leading to terrific queer representation. The focus on men, however, gives women little room to truly shine.

Like Twinless? Try these other Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winners.

Grade: BLiFebruary 13, 2025Great for: LGBTQ